After 48 hours of fighting, Israel appears to have a decisive advantage in the fight against the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group, which is said to be planning an imminent attack on Israel as the war begins on Friday.
Last Monday, Israel arrested a senior PIJ leader in the West Bank.As PIJ prepares to attack Israel’s Gaza border communities in retaliation, Israel roll out Friday’s airstrike killed PIJ leader Taysir al-Jabari. PIJ then fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians.
Over the past two days, the PIJ has fired some 600 rockets at Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Of these, some 220 managed to fly to civilian population centres. Of these, about 97% were intercepted by the Iron Dome system.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes against PIJ targets in Gaza have reportedly been very successful, which Israel calls Operation Dawn. The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli military believes it has whole leadership PIJ.
Apart from injuries related to the panic attack and fleeing to the dugout, there were no Israeli casualties. Meanwhile, about a quarter of the PIJ rockets caught fire and landed in Gaza itself, killing Palestinians, including children.
Israel has responded quickly to Palestinian allegations that it killed several children in an airstrike in Gaza, offering evidence that they were killed by a misfired PIJ rocket. International criticism has been silent.
So far, the Hamas terror group that controls the Gaza Strip has not joined the fray. Egypt is reportedly brokering ceasefire talks between Israel and the PIJ. If the war ends like this, it will be a major victory for Israel and a major loss for PIJ and Iran.
Joel B. Pollak is a senior editor at Breitbart News and Breitbart News Sunday Stream Sundays on Sirius XM Patriot from 7-10pm ET (4-7pm PT). He is the author of a recent ebook, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 US Presidential Election. His most recent book, red november, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Nowak Journalism Alumni Scholarship.follow him on twitter @Joel Pollack.
